SPC renews commitment to safety management

South Korean food and beverage giant SPC kicked off a new safety management committee on Monday as part of follow-up measures in response to the recent death of a young employee at its affiliated bread-making factory.

According to the food giant, the new committee will supervise industrial safety, working conditions and social responsibilities across the facilities of all SPC subsidiaries, and alert the company of potential accidents.

SPC said it will guarantee the committee’s autonomy, stressing the fact that four out of five committee members are made up of experts from outside the company. The company has also set up a separate Safety Management Secretariat Office made up of workers on-hand at the facilities to execute the committee's safety policies.

The new committee is headed by former president of Yonsei University Jeong Kap-young. Jeong, an economics professor at Yonsei University, headed the committee on future development at the Supreme Prosecutor's Office, and is currently serving as the chair of Korean Air’s board of directors.

SPC said Jeong was the most qualified to head the newly formed committee as he had previous experience improving unhealthy practices and institutions at the Board of Audit and Inspection Korea, where he headed the government agency’s committee on audit innovation in 2014.

Meanwhile, other members of the committee include Inha University professor Chun Young-woo, former head of the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s Busan branch Jeong Ji-weon, and former President of the Korean Women Lawyers Association Cho Hyun-wook.

Chun is an industrial expert who has over 10 years of experience in accident prevention, while Jung has over 30 years settling labor disputes at industrial workplaces during her years at the Labor Ministry. Cho is well versed in worker’s rights and social responsibility as she is part of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea.

“We will create a new framework for safety management by listening carefully and implementing the advice given by the Safety Management Committee,” said a SPC official.

Following the death of the young employee, SPC has undergone safety inspections by four external Labor Ministry-certified organizations, as part of its “safety management strengthening measures” which it announced on Oct. 21. The newly formed committee will announce its safety improvement strategies as soon as the examinations are completed in late November.